1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microfluidic device for concentrating a sample containing cells or viruses and lysing the cells or viruses, a method of producing the microfluidic device, and a method of concentrating a sample containing cells or viruses and lysing the cells or viruses using the microfluidic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Biological analysis processes, such as the detection of pathogens and molecular diagnosis, consist of separation of target cells from a sample, concentration of a sample containing cells, separation and amplification of biomolecules from the cells, hybridization, and detection.
A lab-on-a-chip (“LOC”), which allows such a series of biological analysis processes to be rapidly and automatically performed on a microchip, is a subject that is being researched.
The LOC includes microfluidic devices in order to perform such biological analysis processes. A microfluidic device refers to a device in which inlets, outlets, reaction chambers and the like are fluidically connected through microchannels. Such microfluidic devices include, in addition to the microchannels formed thereon, micropumps for transferring a fluid, micromixers for mixing the fluid, microfilters for filtering the transferred fluid, and so on.
Conventional devices intending to integrate the biological analysis processes are composed of cell counting chambers, cell sorting chambers, deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) extraction chambers and polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”) amplification chambers. Such chambers are sequentially and fluidically connected through channels and respectively have valves and pumps.
However, in the case of constructing a device that simply integrates the biological analysis processes, a large number of valves and microfluidic controllers are needed, thus making it difficult to integrate the biological analysis processes in a single device. A large number of chambers are also needed, thus making the volume of the device excessively large and costly. Moreover, there is a high possibility of a generation of air bubbles and a loss of samples during the transfer of sample solutions between the chambers.
Therefore, in order to miniaturize the LOC, as many biological analysis processes as possible are required to be performed in a single chamber.